Executive counsel conversation — FrontCFO The Leader

The Leader · Develop my finance leader

Your CFO carries the most complex mandate in the building. We develop them for it.

Most finance leaders were promoted for the job below the one they hold. Very few were taught what the new one actually requires. This is not generic executive coaching — the work is led by someone who has held the seat six times.

For the chief executive or chief human resources officer backing a finance leader into a bigger seat — and wanting evidence rather than an impression of whether it worked.

Enquire about The Leader

A word for the finance leader already in the chair

This work is not here to replace you. Most of the finance leaders we meet know exactly what needs to change — they are running a close, a team and a board cycle at the same time. We add capacity for the things your team has neither the bandwidth nor the specialist experience to carry, and we develop as we go. Nothing said in a session is reported to your sponsor.

How to engage.

Finance Leadership Development Programme

Twelve months. Structured sessions on a defined curriculum, with advisory access between them. A finance strategy charter agreed with the chief executive. Corporate finance, capital, board communication and business partnership. Available at monthly, fortnightly or weekly cadence. Six-month minimum.

Twelve months · Assessed at month one and month twelve

CFO Counsel

Twelve months. Two days a month with the chief executive or the board — one governance session, one working session with the finance leader. Unlimited access between sessions. Counsel rather than delivery. Most often taken where there is no chief financial officer in the seat.

Twelve months

A succession layer is also available — twelve months, per finance leader on the succession track — when the organisation is building the next seat, not only developing the current one.

FACET · Measured, not asserted

The assessment built for the chief financial officer role.

Administered at month one and again at month twelve. Six competency areas, each rated on two separate scales: competence — whether the person can do it — and influence — whether their capability changes what the organisation decides. Four audiences assess independently and are never averaged: the leader, their direct reports, the chief executive, and the board. Perception is then set against objective measures of what the function actually produces.

A leader rated four on board communication competence and two on influence writes well-constructed papers that do not change what the board decides. The intervention is not communication training.

Diagram A · Three layers

Layer 1 — Stakeholder perception

Board / Audit Committee · CEO · Direct Reports

Each audience assessed separately. Never aggregated.

Layer 2 — Function evidence

30 objective measures: close days, forecast capability, system integration, team time allocation

Layer 3 — Influence measurement

For each competency: competence score AND influence score

Does capability change what the organisation decides?

Diagram B · Five gaps

  • Gap 1
    SelfBoard
    Exposure gap
  • Gap 2
    SelfCEO
    Positioning gap
  • Gap 3
    SelfTeam
    Structural gap
  • Gap 4
    PerceptionFunction Evidence
    Reality gap
  • Gap 5
    CompetenceInfluence
    Impact gap

Each gap maps to a specific programme intervention. The gap map at month 1 calibrates the programme. The gap map at month 12 evidences the development.

Five gaps

  • —Exposure gap — Self vs Board
  • —Positioning gap — Self vs CEO
  • —Structural gap — Self vs Team
  • —Reality gap — Perception vs Function Evidence
  • —Impact gap — Competence vs Influence

The programme measures two things independently: the capability and influence of the leader, and the structural maturity of the function. Where the leader develops and the function does not, the constraint is structural — and that is a finding worth having.

Function health

Measuring the function — not only the leader.

A structured maturity assessment of the finance function itself, not the leader. Administered at month 1 (baseline) and month 11 (comparison). Six dimensions:

  1. 1.Financial Leadership & Governance
  2. 2.Finance Operations & Close
  3. 3.Planning, Forecasting & Analysis
  4. 4.Risk, Compliance & Controls
  5. 5.Technology & Systems
  6. 6.People & Organisation

Health Assessment · Six dimensions

Illustrative example — not real client data

12345Financial Leadership& GovernanceFinance Operations& ClosePlanning, Forecasting& AnalysisRisk, Compliance& ControlsTechnology& SystemsPeople& Organisation
Month 1 (Baseline)Month 11 (Comparison)

Illustrative example. The comparison between month 1 and month 11 is the measurable evidence the sponsor presents to the Board.

Think of it as a thermometer, not an MRI. FACET measures the leader. The Health Assessment measures the function. Both at month 1. Both near the end. The comparison reveals whether the gap is the person, the structure, or both.

Next step

Engagements are scoped and quoted in writing before work begins. Discussed in conversation — not published as a rate card.

Enquire about the programme